Brie Larson on Not Clapping for Casey Affleck at the Oscars: The Moment ‘Spoke for Itself’

Any other year, Brie Larson not clapping for Casey Affleck as he accepted his Best Actor prize might have been the most notable moment of the Academy Awards. As we now live on Earth 2 and last month’s ceremony ended in perhaps the most shocking moment in Oscars history, however, it may have slipped past more viewers’ attention. During the premiere of “Kong: Skull Island” last night, the actress more or less confirmed the moment’s significance: “I think that whatever it was that I did onstage kind of spoke for itself,” she told Vanity Fair.

“I’ve said all that I need to say about that topic,” she then added. Larson, who won an Academy Award of her own for playing a sexual-abuse survivor in “Room,” is also a prominent advocate for people who have gone through similar experiences. And since Affleck was accused of sexual harassment in 2010 — leading to a case that was eventually settled out of court — Larson apparently didn’t feel inclined to clap for him along with everyone else in the Dolby Theatre.

Affleck was asked about the allegations by the Boston Globe shortly after winning his award for his performance in “Manchester by the Sea.” “I believe that any kind of mistreatment of anyone for any reason is unacceptable and abhorrent, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect in the workplace and anywhere else,” he said after reportedly pausing and sighing. “There’s really nothing I can do about it. Other than live my life the way I know I live it and to speak to what my own values are and how I try to live by them all the time.”